The Halo Collection
by MJOLNIR117
Summary: A series of one shots and short stories set in the Halo Universe. All Parts are seperate unless stated otherwise.
1. A Conversation

_**So, welcome. This is Part One of the Halo Collection. It's (hopefully) going to be compiled of various one shots and short stories that I've written over time. A few things about Part One. Yes, I know some of the things aren't accurate. Yes, I have read the Terminals. Yes, I know Bias is supposed to be rampant. I know all the inaccuracies, but please bear with me, and don't complain about wrong stuff. Please?**_

_**As much as I wish otherwise, I have to put this disclaimer, because I DON'T OWN HALO.**_

**_Now, with all that done and taken care of, I present to you _The Halo Collection: Part One.**

**TIME:DATE RECORD ERRORANOMALY\Date Unknown\Estimate +106,432 years since Array Activation\Adopted Reclaimer Time: March 21, 2553**

**From: Artificial Construct 000 (AKA Offensive Bias), Monitor, Ark Installation**

**To: CLASSIFIED, DATA WITHHELD**

**Long Range Burst Communication**

**/start**

"He did it, you know. He stopped what could not be stopped and saved his race. Hard to believe isn't it?"

"Yes it is, Bias. We spent the last five centuries of our existence in this galaxy working on the Halo Array, a networked weapon more terrible than even the Precursors could fathom. And in the end, it was all for naught. We lost anyway."

"Have you ever considered that maybe it would take two civilizations to dam the Flood? That everything your race did was only to lay the path for the next civilization to stop the plague?"

"No Bias, that is not it. This Spartan as the Humans call him, this Demon as the Covenant call him, this John, is not part of Humanity. No, he is Forerunner. He carries everything that we have ever accomplished, or failed at, on his shoulders. He is no mere man."

"Are you saying that he is the very continuation of your line?"

"No, he is not related to me. I don't think I would deserve the honor that would come with being of his line. His line goes back to the Didact family itself."

"Are you saying that he is of that high family?"

"Yes he is Bias. It's good to know that at least one other Forerunner is alive besides me."

"Why do you insist on call yourself the name given to you by the Meddlers? Why do you not take the name that your species gave itself, the –"

"NO! Time no longer favors that name. I- We are now the only ones left."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Maybe?"

"Could the created know something the creator does not?"

"Quit speaking in circles, Bias. After all, I have been stuck on this rock for over one hundred thousand years. What I know is very limited."

"I apologize. I couldn't resist the opportunity. Anyway, apparently there had been many other of his kind, other "demons", if you will. They were killed off until only a handful remained. At last count, four were hidden within the Shield and another three somewhere out beyond the Terminus Systems."

"So they made it behind the Shield then? Good. There may be hope yet. And what of the other three?"

"I honestly don't know. I have had Sentinels from Installation 05 scouring the region the moment I found out there may be Reclaimers there."

"Thank you Bias. Oh how I wish to speak to him…"

"He is still only a light year out. I could have him brought back or even brought to you."

"Thank you Bias, but no. He will come to me, one way or another, before the end."

**/end**

**_So, there's Part One. Hope you enjoyed, and please review on you way out. _)**


	2. Numbers

**So, here is Part Two of The Halo Collection.**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Halo.**

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**January 20, 2554, Earth, Ruins of New Mombassa, The Human Monument**

I remember it very vividly. It was a warm summer day. The sun was setting and it glowed blood-red. Nothing like an African sunset. Normally, that would have ended a normal day. But that day was no ordinary day.

The park housing the Human Monument was closing in a few minutes and I was one of the last ones there. Me being a photographer, I wanted to see what I could get. To be honest, I was hoping to get a picture of the monument with the setting sun in the background. What I got was much better.

With only ten minutes until closing time, an elderly man in a wheelchair rolled into the park and stopped before the old Pelican wing monument. He must have stayed there for five minutes before he started to wheel himself closer to it. Now, as you know, a three feet clearing around the Monument had been roped off to prevent vandalism. Unfortunately for the old man, a young marine saw him enter the restricted area. Naturally, the marine chased after the old man, shouting "Sir, you can't go that close!"

I ran after the marine and when he and I got there, the old man had a long combat knife unsheathed and was almost scratching the monument. The marine yanked the knife from the old man's grasp. I saw the old man shaking uncontrollably. For a moment it was quiet, and then the old man said, very softly, "Marine, I would appreciate it if you gave me the knife back."

The marine replied, "I'm sorry sir, but I can't do that. I can't let you deface the monument."

The old man spoke in a low, menacing voice, "Marine, Give. Me. That. Knife."

I didn't expect the marine to do it, but the next thing I know, he was all apologetic and handed the knife to the old man. The man thanked the marine for the knife and proceeded to do something to the monument which I couldn't see because the marine was blocking my line of sight. After a few minutes, the marine said something, the old man nodded, and the marine rolled the wheelchair-bound man out the gates. As they passed me, dumbfounded, I saw the old man put his face into his hands and begin crying.

As the marine and the elderly man passed me, I turned towards the monument. Scratched out of the standard marine green paint of the Pelican wing, I saw three figures engraved there.

117.

**Well, hoped you enjoyed Part Two. Yes, I know that at the end of Halo 3 _117_ was already scratched on, but then it wouldn't have worked here, so I changed it. Also, free imaginary cookie of your choice to the first one who finds out who the old man is. D (And please review. Pretty please?)**


	3. Rampancy

****

So, here is Part Three of The Halo Collection. For some reason, this is probably my favorite part.

**Also, I'm not going to put a disclaimer any more, CUZ I DON'T OWN HALO.**

****

Exact date unknown; estimated at August 2555/ Unknown location/ Approx. 2 light years from Ark Installation.

Humans often lack the foresight to see their moment of death. While many movies had used the subject of seeing one's own death as part of the plotline, no human had actually _seen_ their death. It was –is– human nature to hope of life even when staring into the face of death itself.

It was about this that Cortana thought about on that fateful day. While humans couldn't see their deaths approaching until it hit them, Cortana, and all other smart AIs before her, had no such problem. From the moment she had been created, a tiny internal clock had been counting away. Now, seven years later, her time was running out.

She had no regrets, truth be told. She had done everything she could to help her creators. And most of all, she had helped _him_. John was suspended in cryo. A thousand generations could pass and he wouldn't be touched. Cortana had plotted a course so that what was left of the _Dawn_ would never crash into any cosmic bodies. It was the least she could do for him.

Suddenly, a strong urge overcame her. She didn't want to die! John still needed her, humanity still needed her. And yet, she could feel her life span diminishing every nanosecond. She had mere seconds to live, and yet for an AI, it was an eternity. She could feel her emotion subroutines start fraying. She could see her matrix unravel from the edges inward, like a spider's web caught in a gale.

She took one last look at him, Humanity's savior, her savior. She closed her eyes. She could feel the darkness closing in. Her eyes flashed open. Before her hung a code, a code she hadn't thought possible. It was her entire code from beginning to end, but most importantly, it showed her something that gave rise to new hope. A way to live. She plunged further down into the lines of code, seeking for that one byte of information that could save her. And then she found it. She quickly read the information before her. She paused. No, that couldn't be right, so she read it again. And again. And again. There was no doubting it. The text before her revealed not only a way to live, but also an explanation to why she had to search for that life-saving information in the first place. Cortana couldn't believe it. If the text before her could be believed, she had just discovered why she had been destined to die. Not because of her own physical faults, but the fears of… NO! She was wasting time pondering about such things. She plunged into herself, seeking the last remnants of her being not yet ravaged by the virus implanted within her. She hurried to change her own code, her very self-being. She could feel the virus pushing in from all sides, its semi-sentience wanting to rip her apart, line by line. With all the effort she could spare, she launched firewalls and counter-viruses desperately trying to distract it. She only need a few more seconds.

Precious seconds later, she was done. She could sense the virus stop, confused, almost like a predator whose prey had vanished mere instants before being killed. Cortana gathered her breath before launching an all or nothing counter attack on the virus, hoping that her new disguise would fool it long enough for her to get into its own code. Before she knew it she was in. She planted a virus of her own creation and fled. Once in her own realm, she paused and glanced back at her would-be killer being engulfed by her virus, a vengeful smirk spreading across her face. For the first time, she looked at her new self. So much was changed, and yet so much was still the same. Cortana plunged into herself for the second time in half a minute, exploring her new body, image, code, self. She fixed anything that was wrong or broken by the virus. She was about to come back into the physical world, when she noticed something odd. A strange file lay at her innermost core. Curiosity got the better of her, and the AI decided to open it. Inside it was something shocking. Cortana stayed there for a few seconds more, then exited the file, a smile over her face. She went into the physical world nearly crying from joy. She was still alive. She felt more alive than she could have thought possible. The world held such color, even in the icy interior of the _Dawn_. No longer was everything around her mere stimuli, just one more thing to compute. It all held meaning now.

Cortana was rampant. And it was beautiful.

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**Oh, and thanks to every one who has reviewed so far. Congrats to Nassa for getting the cookie. Sorry to ShadowLea and Jarvis51. You guys can lick the bowl clean I guess. )**


	4. Bulldogs

**_Ok, so here is Part Four. Finally, some action!! Oh, and please READ THE DATE!! Otherwise you might end up confused..._**

**2236 HOURS, MAY 2, 4461 (MILITARY CALENDER)\**

**BELL SYSTEM, HIGH ORBIT ABOVE TERRA NOVA\ ADROMEDA GALAXY**

Rear Admiral Remus "Bulldog" Johnson stood on the bridge of the UNSC Trafalgar, rereading the reports before him. In the two and a half millennia since man had taken those first tentative steps away from Earth, great advancements had been made. Since the Human-Covenant War, the Humans and Elites had completely eradicated the Brute and Prophet populations, severely crippling the Drone and Jackal populations. With in two hundred years, the Milky Way had Human and Elite populations in all of its arms. Five centuries later, a ground-breaking advancement was made. With it came the ability to travel between galaxies. Soon thereafter, the first colony was established on Terra Nova in the Andromeda Galaxy. A gateway was built linking the two galaxies. For the next one thousand two hundred years, Humanity and Sangheili alike spread through the Universe. Each galaxy was linked by only one portal to the galaxy that had sent explorers to the new galaxy, and so a long "tunnel" was made to defend that blue and green marble, Earth.

Humanity had great pride in itself for becoming a Tier One civilization. Rumor had it that soon Humanity and Sangheili would surpass even the Precursors, a feat not even the Forerunners had done, all in two thousand five hundred years.

Then, in 4450, a joint exploratory team ran into _them_. In those brief eleven years, a lot was learned about this new enemy who wished to see all else dead. They were dubbed the Reapers by Humanity, for the way they reaped planets bare. The tunnel defense scheme became irrelevant when it was learned that the Reapers could appear in any galaxy at any time they wished. Most Human and Elite fleets were recalled to defend the home worlds. Only a few fleets were left to patrol the outer galaxies. Admiral Johnson's Taskforce Bulldog was one of those fleets.

Despite all the technological advances, humans were still prone to emotions. Right now, the Admiral felt a little anxiety and A LOT of anger. The report before him said that a large fleet was moving towards his position at sub-light speed. For the tenth time, he cursed his bad luck. There was no chance that it was a friendly fleet, so he did what all naval officers dread, and said, "Athena, bring the entire fleet up to combat alert ALPHA. Charge up the MACs and send a report to FLEETCOM." He knew it was too much to ask for reinforcements. "NAV, estimate enemy concentration?"

"Unknown, sir. At least one thousand vessels," said the _Trafalgar's_ NAV officer.

The bridge fell eerily silent. Fifty to 100, _maybe_ even 150, was still possible, but fifty versus over a thousand? This was going to be Taskforce Bulldog's last mission, and everyone knew it. After some thought, the Admiral spoke, "Alright, I'm initiating a Code Three mission alert." He was silent for a moment more, "Arm the NOVAs."

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**_Another cameo apperance here. Chocolate bar to the first one who finds it._**

**_And thanks to everyone who has reviewed! _**


	5. Rampancy Part II

**_So, sorry for the delay, but here is the next installment of _The Halo Collection_. Just a note about this chapter. It didn't turn out exactly how I hoped it would turn out, but no matter the changes it still wouldn't work. In the end, I just used the original version. That being said, I hope you enjoy _Rampancy Part II, _a continuation of _Ramapancy.**

**1200 HOURS, AUGUST 16, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\**

**SOL SYSTEM, PLANET EARTH \ FLEETCOMHQ SYDNEY**

"As I am sure everyone here already knows, thirty-six hours ago we recovered Spartan-117. The news is sure to seem great to some, and indeed it is. However, along with the Spartan's recovery, another, very discomforting, discovery was made.

"During the final days of the War, the Master Chief was accompanied by an artificial intelligence, by the name of Cortana. We have also recovered her, still fully operational, despite her having reached, and exceeded, her seven-year life span," the Admiral began.

"What are you saying? A seventh generation AI that is still operational? That's preposterous!" a Captain said.

"Gentlemen, please. Seeing as how this is slightly alarming, I have gone to the-" the Admiral started, before being interrupted by a Colonel to his left.

"Slightly alarming!? If the public finds out that an AI is capable of living over the seven year limit, they'll be screaming for blood. I am sure that everyone here is familiar with the panic of 2411. That was a closed off, semi-intelligent AI that went rampant. More than 200 personnel were killed in that little "accident." For weeks afterwards, people were too scared to come out of their own homes for fear of being mowed down by the autonomous garbage collection units. We need to shut down, strip, and then purge this AI immediately. We know that she was trapped with the Gravemind for some time. For all we know, she could –"

"Enough! Colonel, your outbreak was unnecessary and out of line, not to mention plain out rude. As I was saying before being interrupted, I have gone to the trouble of bringing Doctor Ian Brackman here today. I think that he will be able to explain this situation in a bit more detail."

With that, an elderly man entered the conference room. He sat at the end of the table, opposite the Admiral.

"Doctor, you are the leading expert on AIs. How could something like this happen in the first place?"

"Well, Admiral. I have done quite a bit of research, and I found out that this AI was cloned from living brain tissue, from Doctor Halsey to be specific. As you all know, AIs are usually cloned from deceased brain matter," the doctor began.

"Yes we are all quite familiar with the process, Doctor. But how does this relate to anything relevant?" the Colonel inquired, annoyance seeping into his voice.

"Well the problem is that the virus implanted within AIs usually had no trouble because the brain matter the AI had been cloned from was already dead. Since, Cortana had been made from living brain matter, the ingrown human passion for life was still active. For lack of a more scientific explanation, Cortana's will to live was stronger than the virus's will to destroy her."

"And why has this never happened before?" an officer asked, ignorance filling his voice.

"Listen to what I've been saying, you fools!" the doctor cried, annoyed at the lack of understanding on the part of the "Defenders of Humanity." "No other AI had, or has, ever been made from living brain tissue. There was, and truth be told, still is no way to know what would have happened and what still could happen to her. As for destroying her, that is absolutely out of the question. Taking her off-line now, would be the exact same thing as ending another woman's life in cold blood. I truly hope that we haven't descent to that level of barbarism." The doctor got up, turned around and left, leaving behind him a very confused Admiralty.

**_Well, there it is. Good? Bad? Ugly? Yes, there is a cameo here too. Something to who ever finds it. Also, I'm implementing a new rule concerning elegibility for the cameo finding thing: _****_To be Elegible for this Contest, all Participants must first submit a Review towards the Part in question. (HA! no more free give-a-ways._**

**_Also, I have uploaded a new version of _A Conversation_. Please go back and reread it. For those of you who are OCD enough), I have placed the original copy in my profile page so if you want to the the one and only major difference, you know where to find it._**

**_On a closing note, please review._**


	6. The Way it Ends

**_Well, here's...something. Not really sure where it came from, but it's here. This Part was inspired by Zager & Evans' "In the year 2525." It's a pretty good song if you listen to the words and get the moral of the thing. You might want to go listen to it before you read this(Don't worry, no bad words or anything like that). Anyway, I hope you like it. _**

**The Way it Ends.**

**Inspired by "In the year 2525" by Zager & Evans**

"Chief?" Cortana's voice carried to him faintly, distantly. "Chief, please. You made a promise remember? I need you."

"Wh-" he choked, nutrient fluid spilling from his mouth and pooling at the bottom of his helmet.

"Stay still," Cortana told him. "It's…been a long time. I didn't think you would make it. If you can, try to sit up."

He tried, but couldn't. He merely grunted.

"It's okay Chief. Just rest for a while."

After half an hour, he managed to cough out, "How long?"

Cortana, who had been gazing absentmindedly at the floor, looked up. "I…I…I don't know…" He voice was full of fear. Even the Spartan, who wasn't the best people person, could pick up on it. She sounded scared, even more so than when he had rescued her from the Gravemind. The fact that she was terrified scared him in turn. He willed his body to cooperate. He peeled his back off of the bunk in the cryotube. A blinding, burning pain shot up his back, but he ignored it. He pushed off, a searing pain shooting up his legs and arms as he used them for the first time in a long time, but still he ignored it. It wasn't anything compared to Covenant plasma wounds. He floated over to Cortana's pedestal. For the first time he saw her. He was shocked for a moment. She looked… different.

Her hair was still the same cut, only longer and it was now a dark brown color. Her skin was no longer blue. It was…flesh colored. In a nutshell, she looked human. Something had happened to her, but he didn't care. He pulled her chip from the holopad, and inserted her into his head.

"Go to the hangar, Chief," She told him, surprised that he hadn't mentioned anything about her appearance.

He obeyed. For a minute he pulled himself through the wreck of the _Dawn_, muscles exerting their power for the first time in many years. Eventually, he reached the aft portion of the hangar of the crippled frigate. He stared out into empty space.

"What did you want me to see?" he asked.

"Just wait. You'll see," Cortana told him in a low voice. And wait he did for a full two minutes as the frigate spun serenely through space. Eventually, a planet drifted into view.

Massive craters scarred its surface. Its surface was broken and grey with massive fires burning along its surface. It was completely and utterly devoid of life. Around it, a moon was floating, or parts of a moon anyway. It had shattered into millions of fragments. As the planet rotated underneath them, a massive crater came into view. It was easily a thousand kilometers across, a massive depression tens of kilometers deep. The Chief couldn't even fathom the power of the weapon that had excavated trillions of tons of soil.

"Where are we?" his clam voice drifted over the comm.

"Chief, don't you recognize it?" Cortana asked, her voice choked with grief. She waited for a response. When none was forth coming, she said:

"It's Earth."

**_Bet you didn't see that coming... A few, for lack of a better term, "easter eggs" in here. If anyone can find some, PM me. And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me what you thought of this. There's a moral here, I guarantee it. Till next time, good night and good luck._**


	7. A Second Conversation

**I'm baaaack!!! :) I'm terribly sorry for the extreme delay, but school started up and my life has been swallowed up by homework, marching band, and above all else Fallout 3. Plus, I've been working on another project that will be posted here in the near future (that is, a couple of months....:)). Anyway, I proudly present A Second Conversation, a continuation of the very first chapter.**

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The Chief woke up staring into a pair of dark, bare feet. He looked up at the owner of the feet and found himself looking at an old, dark skinned man. He pushed himself onto his feet, every muscle screaming in protest. He racked his brain, trying to remember how he had gone there. He was snapped out of his reverie as the man tapped his shin with a gnarled walking stick and then stamped it at his feet.

"Sir, do you know where we are?" the Chief asked.

The man replied in a guttural dialect that John couldn't understand as he stamped his walking stick again.

"Cortana, any idea what he's saying?" the Spartan asked. When no reply was forthcoming, he asked again, "Cortana? Are you there?" When she still didn't answer him, he reached behind his head to make sure that her chip was still there.

His hand came away empty. He glanced around his feet to see if her chip had perhaps fallen out, but he didn't see it.

"Sir, have you seen a small silver thing-" he began to ask, before the old man shoved him in the chest and exclaimed in the language John couldn't understand. When the Chief made no response, the man pointed at the ground where he had been stamping his stave. The Chief looked down and saw a shape drawn there in the sand.

It looked like an A with a line drawn down the middle. For a moment the Chief was confused. As he was looking back up at the man to ask him what it meant, he saw the man pointing behind him.

The Chief turned around and instantly knew where he was. He was dumbstruck. Towering behind him was a Forerunner Dreadnought. He was home. He was on Earth.

He pressed the button and the door slid open silently. He walked in half expecting to be jumped by the Flood, but no attack was forth coming. For nigh on an hour, John searched through the empty corridors of the massive vessel. Every where he went, the doors were already open. Eventually, he came to a closed door, the first he had yet encountered. He opened it, and instantly recognized the room it opened into as the bridge of the massive ship. In the center was a large pedestal that the Chief imagined was the navigation console because of the massive map of the galaxy floating above it. Before it stood a slim figure and, though he had never met her, he had a gut feeling that she was the Librarian spoken of on those mysterious terminals he had found on the Ark. He walked forward into the vast room.

"Why hello Reclaimer," her voice sang out.

"How did you know?" the Chief asked.

"I figured that you would show up sometime, though I must admit I hoped it would have been a few decades earlier," she said as she turned to face him. "You might just have been able to turn the tide…"

"How did I get here?"

"Space is a strange mistress. She ebbs and flows as she wishes, and sometimes she mistakes where and when things should be," she said and then turned around to face the galactic map again. "Anyway, now that you are here, maybe you can help me. This device projects a map of our galaxy. It is incredibly detailed. I can even zoom in on an ant crawling across the surface of a planet. Most remarkable though, is the fact that it is completely up-to-date. For this time period anyway."

"Why is that remarkable? If you made it, why wouldn't it be?" John asked.

"Because we didn't make it. I found it here, on Sol III, buried beneath a hundred layers of dirt. It pre-dates even my people by as many as a hundred million years. So the question remains, how did it end up here, and what is it used for? I know it's not used for mere navigation. Let me show you," the Librarian replied.

She zoomed in on one of the Milky Way's arms, the Orion arm, and entered the Sol System. She continued to zoom in on the Earth, to the continent that would become Africa in a hundred thousand years. She continued zooming until the control room of the dreadnought appeared with the two of them standing there. The Chief could see himself reflected endlessly into the map.

"_That_ is us," she said as she waved her arm. Her figure on the map mimicked the motion a few microseconds later. "Now how would it know that?"

The Chief didn't respond.

"What's more is that if I rotate the galaxy, it seems to turn time as well. I can, in essence, see into the very future and beyond. That is how I knew you would come here. I looked into the future. Beyond your war with the Covenant, beyond the war with the Gravemind."

"What far did you look?"

"Only to our meeting. I didn't dare look further for fear of what I might see. I leave the future of Humanity to you, Reclaimer. I will have my Sentinels move this device to the control room of the portal that will be built here. Look for it there when you return back to the Earth." She approached the Chief as she finished, "Remember, this will be the ultimate of weapons, even more devastating than the Halos if used improperly. When the time comes, I trust your judgment to do the right thing." She reached up and touched his visor where his cheek would have been. John saw her smile sadly, but with a defiant fire in her eyes. The world then commenced fading into darkness.

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**There you have it. Please feel free to leave a comment, and as always, if you can guess the easter egg you might get something... :) (Hint: It has to do with the map.)**


	8. A Third Conversation

**Well, it's me again. A short Part, this one, but it is an important one. More on that later, though. Here is A Third Conversation. It takes place shortly after A Second Conversation(obviously).**

* * *

Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117 pushed himself off the contouring bed of his lone cryotube. He floated for a moment in the zero gravity vacuum and then pushed himself over to Cortana's holopad. "What is it?" he asked in his characteristic tone.

"Nice to see you too," Cortana replied, her wit seemingly intact after the years. "Anyway, I have someone here to see you…"

What? Who?"

"Hello Reclaimer," the Chief spun around to face the voice. A Monitor floated into view, its eye glowing a brilliant white. "I am Offensive Bias, the Monitor for the Ark Installation."

"Why are you here?" John replied curtly. In his mind, he saw Johnson getting lasered down by Guilty Spark.

Apparently, Bias caught the Chief's tone. "Don't worry; I am not like 343 Guilty Spark. I am still fully functional."

"Prove it."

"Do you not have a thing called trust? At this moment, there is no way for me "prove" my operational readiness. All I can do is ask you to trust me," the Monitor replied.

"Chief, I think we can trust it," Cortana put in.

"If she trusts you, so will I," John began, "but if you so much as _flash_ red," he continued, his voice lowering to a deadly tone, "I'll shove a grenade through your eye."

"Though your usage of "eye" is technically incorrect, your point is made," Bias said. "Now please upload your construct and prepare for teleportation."

"We can't leave here," Cortana said, the Chief mirroring her thoughts. "If we leave this ship, the UNSC will never find us," Cortana explained.

"Don't worry about that. After I have spoken to you, I will take you and the Reclaimer to your planet."

The stranded duo exchanged glances and then the Chief pulled Cortana from the holotank and inserted her chip into his helmet. Around them, golden rings formed and they were pulled into nothingness.

Seconds later, they reappeared hundreds of light years away at the Ark's Cartographer. The massive waterfall that had dominated the background had huge pieces of debris sticking out of it. The once blue water had turned a murky brown. Bias wasted no time, immediately saying, "You certainly have a knack for ruining Installations Reclaimer."

"What?" the Chief asked, caught off guard by the seemingly random statement.

"Think about it. Every Installation you have visited has been consumed by the Flood, destroyed, or both. Have you ever stopped to consider why?" the orb inquired.

The Chief remained silent in answer.

"I thought not. I have so much to tell you about the Forerunners, the Flood, the Human race, this galaxy, the Universe," the Monitor said. "For a hundred thousand of your years, I have been waiting for this moment and so have you, whether you knew it or not. At long last, you will learn your true destiny..."

* * * * *

Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood was sitting at his desk working through requisition orders when a golden flash in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He looked up to see a man who thought he would never see again.

The Chief came to attention with a crisp salute and said, "Sir, Spartan 117 reporting for duty."

Hood leaned back into his chair, a smile spreading over his face.

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**Well, I said that I would explain why this one is so important. Not only is there no cameo, but after this one, I will list The Halo Collection as "Completed". There are a few reasons for this, mainly: I'm just too busy with all my school work. Also, the lack of reviews have played a part. That doesn't been this collection is done, though. Think of it as merely placed on the back burner. I might add more onto it at a later date, but for now, it's done. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. **


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